Refinery to Auckland pipeline outage update - Sunday

Fuel customers of
Refining New Zealand said they welcomed the successful
completion of repairs to the Refinery to Auckland Pipeline,
with fuel now flowing to the Wiri Fuel Terminal in South
Auckland.

Seven million litres of jet fuel is the
first major fuel parcel to be pumped. As is standard
practice, jet fuel must settle for 30 hours before it can be
pumped to the airport, at which point it must be retested
and then certified for use.

Andrew McNaught,
representing the customers of the refinery, said industry
welcomed the restart of the pipeline and was looking forward
to resuming pumping to Auckland Airport tomorrow
evening.

Jet fuel will then be ready to load on
planes from the early hours of Tuesday morning.

“While we are keen to meet the demand of our airline
customers, safety in the resumption of supply will be the
absolute priority for the industry.

“Industry will
be typically rigorous on ensuring all standard steps are
taken and all controls are in place to ensure jet fuel meets
global quality and safety standards before being released to
the airport,” he said.

“Again we want to thank
our airline customers, and their customers in turn, for
their patience during this outage.

While we are
acutely aware of the inconvenience the pipeline outage has
caused, we have been impressed with the way the airlines
have responded to this outage.”

Andrew McNaught
said the Auckland Airport JUHI Operating Committee would
continue to consider the fuel allocations to airline
customers on a daily basis and the allocations would be
eased as soon as possible.

In additional supply
updates, Mobil and BP have been transporting jet fuel out of
the new truck loading facility at Whangarei over the
weekend, with Z beginning tomorrow. Trucking jet fuel will
continue until resilience has been built back into the
industry’s stock positions.

On Saturday, the
coastal vessel, Matuku, delivered 1.5 million litres of jet
fuel into converted chemical tanks at Wynyard Wharf,
providing an additional jet fuel supply point in the city.
Jet fuel is planned to be available for loading at Wynyard
from mid-week.

Yesterday industry decided that HMNZS
Endeavour, moored off Marsden Point, can be stood down.
“This was an incredibly generous offer. With the pipeline
repairs completed on time, there is now no need for
Endeavour but industry extends its thanks to the government
and the Defence Force for being so proactive,” said Andrew
McNaught.

“Ground fuel supplies in Auckland have
held up well due to concerted industry trucking and jet fuel
supplies at alternative airports have been well managed.
Petrol and diesel will follow jet fuel out of the pipeline
at Wiri, to rebuild ground fuel stock levels at the
terminal.”

Andrew McNaught said while industry had
pulled out all of the stops to ensure safe, continuous
supply of ground fuels to Auckland, the resumption of
pipeline operations would now enable industry participants
to begin to rebuild their respective stock positions.

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Chief
Executive Carolyn Tremain welcomed the significant progress
made on restoring jet fuel supply to Auckland Airport, and
ensuring security of motor fuel for the Auckland region.

“The progress made in the last week is a testament to
government and industry working closely together. We have
been hard at work behind the scenes to ensure Auckland keeps
moving.”

“I have been impressed with the way
multiple government agencies – including the New Zealand
Defence Force, the Ministry of Transport, the New Zealand
Transport Agency and Auckland Council - have come together
quickly to work with the fuel industry. The outage response
has been logistically complex and has required high levels
of co-ordination and co-operation with industry.”

Andrew McNaught is the Manager of Mobil Oil New Zealand
Limited and is the spokesperson representing the customers
of Refining
NZ.

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